gospel on Junior Golf Resumes

One of the most talked about subjects at our camps is “how/when do we start contacting coaches?” First of all, there is no PERFECT timing. Start contacting coaches as soon as you have an interest in the program. We will touch upon this topic later in the week when we discuss “falling in love in mascots and school colors”.

Here is the gospel when it comes to junior golf resumes. Write this down because coaches say it happens daily with junior golf families. NEVER EVER send an email to a coach and address it as “Dear Coach” or worse yet, the wrong coaches name. Take the time to address it as “Dear Coach Walton” or whatever. If you can’t take the time to address it to correct person or individually, why should they open it? Or why should they show an interest in you when you can’t even address them by name? Got it?……

Here are the “BIG 5 Truth’s” about junior golf resumes. Stick to these basic approaches.

#1 – Do it yourself

You can do the resume yourself. You don’t need anyone to do this for you. The main reason is this. If you truly have that much interest in the university/golf program then you will do the research to find the coaches name and contact information. If you won’t take the time to do that, then are you really that interested? ALSO, VERY IMPORTANT, 95% of the time when a coach receives a resume from a “blast” email, it gets deleted before it even gets opened. So do the research yourself, don’t expect someone to care more than you do. And, MAYBE as important, PARENTS do not send the email for the junior golfer. Do you think the coaches are not smart enough to know the difference? Do you think a coach wants an email from the parent and not the junior golfer? Don’t make that mistake…..JUNIOR GOLFERS, you send the emails from your email address…..

#2 – Keep it simple

Coaches don’t care that you started playing golf at age 3. They care about your attitude, your effort, your academics, your scores, your rankings, etc. So keep it simple. Name, Year of Graduation, State, GPA, is usually enough because coaches will do the research on you.

#3 – Keep it short

Junior Golfers and parents want to write these beautiful resumes and emails, however, they don’t really matter. The shorter the better, for example, “Coach Ward, just a quick note, this past weekend I competed in our State Amateur. I shot 78, 73, 74 at 6900yds. I felt like I competed with confidence and learned a few things about my game that I need to address. My plan is address those challenges in the coming weeks. Good luck next week in Hawaii.” This statement shows #1 that you’re paying attention to their schedule, #2 you shared hard data which was the tournament, your scores and the distance played and #3 you shared what you did well, what you need to do better and how you plan to get better. #goodbetterhow

#4 – Keep it intimate

Refer to the “gospel” comment above, but also, know the program. For example, “Coach Ward, I followed your tournament this week in California, looks like you guys played well finishing 3rd by a shot. I can’t wait to compete like that with a close-knit group of teammates. Good luck next week in Hawaii.” Shows you’re a paying attention to their program and you care about something other than yourself.

#5 – Keep it consistent

You should be contacting the coaches every 10-14 days in some fashion or another. Why do you think Charmin spends so much money on marketing? Because they know that in order for you to buy Charmin Toilet paper they have to keep their brand in front of you. Same applies to junior golfers with college coaches, just minus the toilet paper.